Titans: Elemental

Chapter 23: How Long Is Forever?

We hear an alarm going off in Starfire's room. She opens her eyes with a gasp, then squeezes them shut excitedly.

Starfire exclaimed, "the day has arrived!"

She turns off her alarm clock, which looks like Mumbo. She opens her drawer to reveal a pile of toys and party favors. She sweeps up the lot and giggles. She goes to the door and she peeks cautiously back and forth. More bubbly little laughs escape her as she zips out and starts to ease toward the corner, whisking from one wall to the other as she goes. She stops at her sister's room and knocks.

Blackfire comes out with her own party favors. Their armloads jingle slightly. One item falls away when Starfire ducks around the bend and out of sight, but she reaches back to pick it up.

Blackfire whispers, "I'm so excited to share this holiday with the others."

Starfire whispered back, "oh, so am I!"

Now they make their way past the stairs. Once they enter the room, they lower their goodies to expose their beaming faces.

Starfire and Blackfire both exclaimed, "HAPPY BLORTHOG! Huh?"

Raven sits off to one side and reads, Dick stands before a boombox in the kitchen, and BB and Vic are playing GameStation.

Rose looks very tired as Bryan is trying to work on his hand with a screwdriver while Jack is trying to practice some origami, but the instructions are so unclear that he keeps screwing up.

A thundering hip-hop track drowns out all other sounds at this point.

Dick's hair is being blown back by the wall of sound. Vic and BB are having a tug-of-war over the game controller.

Vic growled, "come on, Beast Boy, gimme that thing!"

BB growled, "dude! I'm in the middle of a game, Vic!"

Vic growled, "yeah, my game, 'cause it's my turn!"

BB growled, "give me the controller!"

Vic growled, "no! Let go!"

The sisters walk in.

BB growled, "it is my turn!"

Starfire exclaimed, "friends! We must frolic and leap in glorious celebration, for today is Blorthog, the Tamaranean festival of friendship!"

Blackfire said, "a very tender celebration that is important to all Tamaranians. Even I am happy to shed my more moody exterior for it."

The sisters grin happily, but the grins fade when they realize that no-one is paying attention.

Disgruntled, they look around the place and drop the items they have carried in, except for a few strands of jingling bells that hang from their wrists. Vic leans into view, still struggling with BB, and they turn cheerfully to him.

Starfire said as a tentacle snakes towards Vic, "joyous greeting, friend. We, Starfire-"

Blackfire added, "-and Blackfire-"

Starfire continued, "give you this tinnabula as a symbol of-"

The tentacle wraps around Vic's neck; and the sisters gasp.

Vic growled, "you're gonna pay for that, you little grass stain!"

A few seconds later, there is yell and a room shaking crash from the two boys' direction, and BB hops into view as a frog, with the GameStation controller in his mouth. Reverting to human form, he laughs and starts playing again. Starfire holds a string of bells out to him.

Starfire said, "many blessings, friend. May your ears be filled with sugar candies and-"

Vic growled, "Beast Boy!"

BB growled, "look! I'll give you back the controller as soon as Raven gives back my nail clippers!"

There is a loud, furious growl, anf Vic reaches into view to yank him away. We see Raven, still buried in her book, with the aforementioned pair of clippers floating nearby under her influence.

Raven said, "not gonna happen. How else am I supposed to keep your toenails off the coffee table?"

Starfire holds the bells out to her.

Starfire said, "happiness and delight, friend. On this wondrous day, I wish you sunshine and bunny-"

Raven's eyebrow twitches. Starfire takes the hint and backs off with a nervous little laugh.

Blackfire takes a step towards Jack and says, "Jack, I wish to-"

Jack said, "-please, not right now Blackfire! I'm so close to folding a paper crane!"

Blackfire steps away with a sad look and turns to Rose and Bryan.

Bryan said, "please-"

Rose said, "-don't."

Now a vein starts to throb on Raven's forehead as she says, "Dick, could the music be a little louder? I can still hear myself think."

Starfire makes as if to offer him the bells. As the free-for-all continues from the vicinity of the couch, Dick glares off toward it and one vein after another stands out below his hairline. Finally, he has had enough.

Dick groaned, "I only turned the music up to DROWN OUT ALL THE YELLING!"

Starfire and Blackfire stand together, rather tired of this whole idiocy.

A laughing BB runs past with the controller while Vic chases him.

Jack, Rose and Bryan are now sitting together. A moment later, they back into view; Vic has put BB in a headlock with one hand and seized the device with the other.

Vic growled, "whose turn is it now, tough guy? Whose turn is it now?"

Dick groaned, "knock it off! I can't work with you two acting like idiots!"

Raven said, "great, Dick. More yelling will definitely stop all the yelling."

Rose groaned, "can you guys stop arguing? I'm, yawn, tired."

Jack asked, "everyone calm down please?"

Bryan said, "I don't think that's gonna work bro."

Vic runs screaming across the room; he has the controller, but BB has turned into a bear and is charging after him.

Starfire begged, "friends, please! You must not, if we could simply, happy Blor-"

Vic trips and yells, "whoa!"

Vic grabs into the bells, but they break as he falls!

The bells fall loose and hit the floor in slow motion, bouncing all over the place. Blackfire and Starfire's disbelieving gazes turn down after them as Dick and Raven grimace at each other and BB stays half slumped over.

Jack, Bryan and Rose take a step back as they see the sisters growing angry.

The Tamaraneans shock gives way to fist-clenching anger, and they do their best to keep from blowing their tops, but eventually, they lose the struggle, and the other three Titans retreat as they yell:

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

The Titans all look at the sisters in surprise.

Blackfire yelled, "what is wrong with all of YOU today?! This is the one day we want everything to go right, and THIS happens?!"

Starfire exclaimed, "friends must never behave this way, and especially not on Blorthog! Do you wish to invite the Rekmas?"

BB said, "gesundheit?"

Jack said, "I don't think that was a sneeze dude."

Starfire said, "on our world, 'rekmas', means, 'the Drifting.'"

Blackfire said, "it's something horrible, that no-one on our planet wishes for."

Starfire said, "the point at which close friends begin to drift apart, and their friendship begins to die."

Vic said, "aw, come on, girls."

Rose asked, "like that's gonna happen to us?"

BB said, "we are so not Rek-whatever-ing."

Jack said, "nothing could rip us apart like that!"

Raven said, "we're getting on each other's nerves a little. Big deal."

Bryan said, "it happens from time to time."

Dick said, "yeah. This is just typical roommate stuff. We're not going to drift apart, Star, Blackfire. I promise. We'll all be friends forever."

Blackfire and Starfire asked, "forever?"

A beeping starts up and cuts off their pondering. The source is Dick's communicator, which he pulls out of his belt.

Dick said, "Titans! Trouble!"

All but Starfire and Blackfire follow him out of the operations center.

After a long moment, they fly out after them, and we see the broken bells lie near a string Starfire has dropped.

We go to a museum in Jump City. The sun has just barely begun to rise here. Inside, we see a gallery filled with ticking clocks from many historical periods, and it stops on a particular display case by the far wall. Next to this, a portal of white light opens up and turns black after a moment as if a second hand had just swept across it. Out steps a goateed man in black armor, with gold reinforcements at wrists and ankles; he also wears a gold breastplate and helmet that leaves his face exposed. This is Warp.

In the case is a small clock in a cylindrical gold housing, with a glass hemisphere on top. Inside is an assembly of parts that could be a model of a galaxy. Warp's footsteps approach as his shadow falls over the case.

Voice, "hey, stop!"

The sound of a weapon being cocked is heard. The intruder turns toward it, showing a small blue lens on the forehead of his helmet.

The speaker is one of two armed guards who have moved in and are ready to fire.

Warp said, "stop yourselves!"

He waves a hand carelessly at them; an instant later both men are frozen in ice. He turns back to the case, showing his breastplate to have a larger blue lens set in it.

Warp said, "I didn't journey back in time one hundred years to squabble, I came to steal. The Clock of Eternity. Valuable in the past, priceless in the future."

He reaches for it, only to have his hand deflected by one of Dick's discs. The Titans are at the balcony railing; the projectile embeds itself in the floor.

Dick said, "but for the present…. You'll keep your filthy hands off it."

Warp said, "the Titans. This is a treat", as a laser pops out of each shoulder, "I read all about you in the historical archives. And now, you're all history!"

He opens fire.

Dick exclaimed, "Titans! Go!"

They are over the railing in a heartbeat to avoid the blasts. Warp pivots off to one side and fires again with a shout, aiming at Dick; the latter has his fighting staff out and extended to full length, and he parries the barrage with ease. The last shot, however, breaks the weapon in half and forces him to retreat. A starbolt blasts across the area, and Starfire flies in to take his place, followed by BB as a lion and Blackfire flying behind her sister. Their beams carve a long double groove in the floor, closing in on Warp, but he effortlessly deflects when they reach him. One ricochet comes back at them and knocks them out of the air.

He looks incuriously off to one side as BB's growl is heard. The big green jungle cat is charging, but up comes one gold glove, out pops a blaster from the back of it, and off goes a crackling blast. He has immobilized BB in mid-leap.

Raven is in midair, and is levitating two grandfather clocks.

Raven chanted, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

The fixtures are hurled at him, only to go flying off to the side when he waves his arms. Now he fires a beam from his helmet that drives her to the ground.

Jack immediately begins firing a beam of ice at Warp, but he uses his own weapon to send it back at Jack, who quickly jumps out of the way.

Bryan runs in to punch Warp, and the two grapple for a moment, before Warp zaps Bryan with another beam that sends him flying into the wall. Rose tries swinging at Warp, but she gets handled the same way Dick was.

Warp is in the clear for only a moment, though; Vic's sonic cannon blast flashes in, connecting dead on and throwing up a cloud of dust.

Vic exclaimed, "boo-yah… ! Huh?"

As the view clears, we see that Warp has put up a force field to absorb the energy and is quite unharmed. Taking it down, he throws something at Vic. It lands on his chest and sticks there. It is circular, resembling a kitchen timer, and the pointer turns a notch to send up sparks from every part of the bionic teen's body.

Vic groaned, "ugh, draining my power cell!"

Warp said, "you cannot defeat Warp. I am from the future."

He scales a disk across the gallery toward the charging Dick, who throws a handful of his own discs. Warp's projectile, however, smashes cleanly through them, then doubles back and homes in again. Dick, Blackfire and Starfire dive aside as it sails the full length of the room and explodes at the other end.

Warp said, "and you relics are one hundred years out of date."

He turns away to the case holding the Clock of Eternity. Warp reaches out, his hand passing through the glass, and removes it. He takes a few steps across the gallery, stops, and presses the blue lens on his breastplate. It glows blinding white and emits a beam that forms into a portal identical to the one that brought him here. A little adjustment turns the passage black as before.

Warp said, "ta-ta, Titans. I have enjoyed our time together, but I've got a very bright future ahead of me."

He turns to make his exit, but before he can clear out, Starfire and Blackfire roar in fury and fly straight at him. Surprised, he turns to look back with one foot out the door.

Warp said in shock, "what?"

They plow into him; their momentum carries all three of them through the portal, which winks out behind them-an instant before Dick hurls himself across the area in an attempt to follow. He ends up sprawled on the floor. The Titans are spread out and looking at the now-empty case, and their last two teammates nowhere in sight.

Dick exclaimed, "Starfire! Blackfire!"

….

We see a huge field of clocks in a huge void as Blackfire, Starfire and Warp grapple in midair. They are within the portal he opened.

Warp growled, "let go!"

Starfire growled, "you have endangered my friends and ruined Blorthog!"

Blackfire growled, "this day has been a terrible one, no thanks to you!"

Warp growled, "stop! If you damage the suit before we reach my future-"

Starfire gets hold of the chest lens!

He yells, "NO!"

Starfire rips it away; there is a great flash of white, which clears to leave her and Blackfire floating, holding one another. They gasp and cover their eyes as Warp drops screaming. The void around them blacks out around them! When he has receded from view entirely, a second white flash emanates from the immeasurable depths and l washes out the area. This clears to leave a black field and Starfire and Blackfire falling toward the ground from above.

We change to a deep snowdrift, where the sisters land very hard and stand up after a moment. It is nighttime, and a bitter winter wind whistles over the landscape.

Starfire asked, "huh? What has happened? Why is it cold?"

Blackfire asked, "wasn't it warm out this morning?!"

Starfire started to say, "and where are our…."

They turn their eyes upward. They are looking straight at the base of the Tower, whose windows are almost all dark and drifted deep with snow at the sills. They gasp softly; their gaze drifting to the top floor, where the main window is broken, but looks to be going under disrepair. The entire impression is one of a building that has fallen into advanced disrepair.

Starfire finished in confusion and worry, "… friends?"

….

We see inside the tower. A hole has been smashed in the ceiling, allowing the snowflakes to enter. The sisters slowly make their way up the stairs. The device Starfire tore from Warp's armor is clipped to her belt.

Starfire called out, "friends? Hello? Friends? Hello!"

Blackfire called out, "is anyone here? Hello?"

Finding a set of closed doors in their path, they strain to push them open. One door is forced away, then the other, their silhouette in the meager light from outside. They gasp in shock and advance slowly; they have entered the remains of the operations center. Walking through the kitchen, they look left and right, not believing a bit of what they see. Their boots pass the GameStation controller that sparked such a furor between Vic and BB, the crumpled up paper Jack had tried folding, and nudge one of the bells Starfire dropped, now badly rusted.

The jingling causes them to stop and recoil in fear for a moment, and they stop and Starfire picks up a loose bell. She fixes it with a wide-eyed look of stunned sadness for a long second and watches it crumble on her palm. In the darkness off to one side, a spot of red light begins to glow as some machinery is heard; they gasp and look toward this.

Starfire exclaimed, "Victor!"

Blackfire asked, "is that you?"

The red dot does not move, so Starfire holds up one glowing hand to shed some light.

Starfire started to say, "oh, Victor, thank goodness you are-"

The illumination reaches the dark niche and exposes something that has Vic's approximate body shape, but is built entirely of mechanical parts. The source of the red spot is an electronic brain sitting on one side of the head. Starfire cries out in fear and throws a starbolt that blows the collection of circuitry away, only to be confronted by several spider-like robots that jump up from behind the shoulders. Each looks like the part she just destroyed. Now Starfire and Blackfire shoot one shot after another to knock them out, but are interrupted by the arrival of a new figure at the entrance.

"YO!"

They turn to see someone walk into the room.

It's Vic! But he looks much different.

He walks in, giving a full view of himself. His face is lined, the armored panels that cover most of his body are more dull looking, and the blue lights that used to glow in his circuitry now glow much more dimly. Thick wires are on his back, and he has armed himself with a piece of pipe.

Vic started to yell, "who's up here blasting my…."

He stops, lowers the pipe, and stares dumbfounded.

Vic asked in shock, "Star? Blackfire?"

The bludgeon slides from his fingers and clatters to the floor, and he comes closer to look them over from head to toe. We now see that he has had to replace part of one leg with some random components, making it look more steampunk-esque.

Vic said, "Starfire. Blackfire. I don't believe it. You…. You haven't aged a day! Either of you!"

Starfire asked, "Victor, what has happened? Why are…. You…?"

Vic says tiredly, "old", he smiles gently, then crosses the room, "well, that's what happens to folks when you go away for twenty years."

Blackfire and Starfire asked in total shock, "twenty years?!"

Vic explains, "you disappeared, girls", he slides some junk aside, "that battle with Warp, that was a long time ago. You fell through a wormhole, and…."

He looks out the cracked window. Across the frozen bay, the skyline of Jump City huddles under its blanket of snow and the cruel dark sky. It looks no different than Gotham City.

Vic said, "welcome to the future."

Starfire asked, "the future? But…."

She removes the lens from her belt and holds it up.

Blackfire said, "… Starfire damaged his technology."

Vic takes the thing and looks at it.

Vic said, "Warp was planning to jump ahead one hundred years, right? Looks like you two stopped him at twenty."

She takes it back.

Starfire said, "still, I am confused. Please, why are you in disrepair?"

He looks down at himself, then turns away.

Vic said, "let's just say things haven't gone so well since you two left. The only people who come to see me are Sarah and Fixit."

He approaches the windows; the girls follow.

Starfire asked, "but what of the other Titans? Where are our friends?"

Vic said, "the Titans are history, Star. Your friends aren't friends anymore."

Starfire cried, "no. You are wrong. This…. Everything is wrong! How could such terrible things…."

She looks at the lens in her hand.

Starfire growled, "Warp!"

Blackfire growled, "that monster!"

Starfire growled, "his interference in the past must have changed our future.

Vic said, "Star, I don't think-"

Starfire said, "he caused all this badness to happen. He made this technology, and he is the one who can make things right", she flies over and lands by him, "we must find Warp. You will help us?

Vic said, "I wish I could."

He looks off toward one corner; a piece of equipment there. It resembles a gasoline-powered electric generator, and his cables are hooked up to it.

Vic said, "my last power cell burned out years ago. I've tried adapting this new stuff to my old circuits, but…. I can't leave the Tower, Star. I'm obsolete. That's why Sarah has to come here if they wanna see me. Maybe one of the others can help…"

Blackfire asked, "can you tell us where we are?"

Vic said, "I can tell you how to find BB, Jack and Raven."

Starfire asked, "and Richard?"

Blackfire asked, "what about Rose and Bryan?"

Vic said, "we lost touch a long time ago. If you're looking for them, you're on your own."

Soon, the sisters leave to find the others.

We see a stable of some kind.

As a circus calliope plays outside, a green seal pops up into view and barks; it can only be BB. He jumps onto a nearby crate and balances a ball on his nose. It bounces up, and when we see him again, he becomes a frog and balances it again. We see two young boys outside, watching the exhibition; they are mostly bald except for small spikes of hair, and they wear pink visor/sunglasses that hide their eyes completely. One holds an ice cream cone, and neither is too impressed by the whole spectacle.

The sound of another transformation is heard. BB's enclosure is now revealed as a large cage, a circus wagon of some kind. He has assumed panda form to keep that ball poised just so. He then changes into a pig, but a snowball flung in knocks him over and sends the ball flying.

The first kid yelled, "you stink, pig!"

Laughing and jeering, both of them start throwing now; BB pokes his head out from behind the crate, but is quickly driven to the floor. After one last salvo, the ice cream cone is thrown in and the two kids leave. The green porker sits dejectedly as the cone melts on his head; it slides off, and he looks down and sighs.

Blackfire and Starfire land on the other side of the bars to peer in. BB returns to human form, bald on top, having gained a great deal of weight, and not wearing his belt. Defeat permeates every syllable of his voice.

BB said in shock, "no way! It's you two. But how?"

Starfire said, "we require your help."

Blackfire said, "and a lot of it."

BB asked, "what kinda help?"

Starfire said, "the future is not as it should be. We must find Warp. I will free you from this-"

BB cried out, "this cage isn't to keep me in! It's to keep those maniacs out!"

Starfire winds down and leans in closer.

BB explained, "look. After the Titans broke up, I tried the whole solo-hero thing. Got my butt kicked, a lot. So now, well…."

He turns briefly into a squawking chicken to make the point.

BB smiles weakly and chuckles, "besides, I'm in the showbiz now."

Their eyes tell just how false this excuse rings with the two Tamaranians.

There is a sign nearby that reads, "Amazing One Man Zoo-Freakish Wonder."

It shows a creature with the heads and body parts of many different animals. This is what passes for BB's life now.

….

Blackfire and Starfire stand before an old apartment.

Starfire knocks; and the door opens.

Standing there is Jack; twenty years older. They wore a dark blue cloak, his staff looking more worn out as he held it. He now had a beard, and his hair was beginning to gray at the edges, most likely from stress, indicated by the bags under his eyes.

Jack asked in shock, "Star? Blackfire?"

Starfire said in slight shock, "Jack? Your face is all fuzzy!"

Jack said, "er, yeah. Uh, come on in."

Starfire and Blackfire walk in behind Jack. They step into the living area, where there are shelves lined with books. A wooden shelf over the fireplace to hold the staff.

They get confused when they see toys on the ground. Plushies and whatnot.

Jack said, "I always hoped you two would return. I'm happy I was right. Only wish the reunion was sooner…"

Blackfire asked, "what's with all the toys?"

As if to answer the question, they heard a tiny voice say, "daddy?"

Starfire and Blackfire grew wide-eyed at what they saw. A little girl with skin like Jack's, but dark purple hair like Raven's; with the tips being red. She wore dark blue pajamas, but held a pink pony plush toy in her arms.

Jack knelt down and said, "Cassia, sweety, what are you doing up?"

Cassia said, "I heard you and mommy get up. I'm sorry."

Jack said, "hey, it's okay, come here."

Cassia jumped into Jack's arms.

She asked, "who are the pretty orange ladies?"

Jack said, "er, these are old friends of mine and your mother's. Starfire and Blackfire."

Cassia said, "they look pretty."

Jack chuckled, "heh, yes they do. Now, uh, can you two wait for a minute? I'm gonna give Cassia some warm milk so she can get back to sleep."

The sisters nodded as Jack took a few minutes to get Cassia some milk and get her to bed.

Soon, Jack returned after getting her to bed.

Blackfire asked, "so, is that your daughter?"

Jack nodded and said, "Cassia. She was born five years ago today."

Starfire asked, "Jack, where is Raven?"

Jack said, "she's in her room. It took me ten years to get her to start speaking again. After you both vanished, she basically shut down. Fifteen years of work, me and Cassia are the only people she'll talk to. Hopefully she'll say something to you guys."

Blackfire said, "we are trying to find Warp, the man who sent us here. Our absence might have been the cause of the team splitting."

Jack said, "I honestly hope that's the case. Her room is down the hall."

Last door at the end. She goes there when she needs time alone."

Starfire and Blackfire nod before making their way down the hall….

...

At the far end of the hall, a single fluorescent tube flickers and throws its inadequate light onto a steel door. They open the door slowly. The room inside is pure white, with no features of any kind visible. In the far corner, wearing a white cloak with the hood up, a short figure stands with its back to them and its head bowed.

Starfire said, "Raven? Raven, it is Starfire, your friend."

Blackfire said, "I'm here too. Blackfire. Remember?"

The two girls move into the room. The white-cloaked figure does not turn from the corner.

Raven muttered, "no such thing."

Starfire tried to say, "please, Raven, I-"

Raven muttered, "just another figment. Don't even look."

Blackfire said, "Raven, we're right here."

Starfire said, "you must listen! We are here because-"

Raven yelled, "I'm never coming back! Go away!"

She half-walks, half-floats to another corner of the room.

Raven muttered, "it has to go away. Just like before. Just like all the others."

Blackfire said, "jeez, Jack wasn't kidding."

Starfire said, "your mind. Without friends, you must have-"

As she is about to touch her former teammate's back, a shield pops up to block her and she gasps. Dropping her head, resignedly, she and Blackfire exit and close the door behind them. Raven keeps her face to the wall and that black barrier up.

The girls returned to Jack as he sighed, "I had a feeling she wouldn't have listened to you guys. Sometimes she forgets I even live with her."

Starfire asked, "might you help us?"

Jack said, "I can't. I've got a wife and daughter to look after. I CAN tell you where my brother is though. Last time I met with him, he and Rose had a base of some kind a few blocks away."

Blackfire said, "thanks Jack. We'll see you later."

Jack nodded as his friends left.

Jack muttered, "I hope their plan works…."

….

Later, we see the sisters plodding through the snow that thickly covers the street, but a laser blast from nearby knocks them backward. On a ledge, Warp stands with his shoulder, mounted weapons deployed. Circuitry is visible through the hole where Starfire pulled that lens away, and his voice reveals that he too has aged.

Warp growled, "what's the matter, dears? Have I come at a bad time?"

His face is lined and drawn from the past two decades. He cuts loose with a fusillade that peppers the snow all around them; they stand for a moment, pinned down, and then get clear of the ground. Flying past him and over the buildings, they dodged his shots and returned fire, but as in the museum, he puts up a force field to stop their star bolts. Now they float down to his level and get ready to lay a big one on him-but he merely waves a hand and encases them in ice, just as he did to those two guards. They drop to the street; the frozen layer shatters, and they are left twitching and groaning in a crater of snow. Warp steps close to her and soon finds himself on the receiving end of their angry glares. However, it gives way to bewilderment once they get a good close look at him.

Starfire said, "you have also become old."

Blackfire said, "twenty years, like the others."

Warp growled, "that's what happens when someone steals my vortex regulator", he holds out his hand, "the regulator, if you please. I really must get back to my future."

They stand and Starfire pulls it off her belt.

Starfire growled, "if you ever wish to see your future….", she warms up a starbolt, "... you will repair the damage you have done to our past!"

Blackfire growled, "we aren't letting our future end up like this!"

Warp chuckled, "damage? Silly girls. There's nothing wrong with your past. One cannot damage history, because history cannot be changed. I went back in time to steal this because history says it disappeared. And history says it disappeared because I went back to steal it. Past, present, future. It's all written in stone, my dears."

Starfire winds down the blast she was about to throw; he takes the lens, or regulator, from her hand.

Warp said, "and nothing you do can ever change it."

He raises one arm and extends a blaster from his wrist, ready to fire, but something hurtles into view and knocks him into an alley. Standing up, it is a black silhouette with a cape and cowl, and it throws Warp even farther down the way to bounce off a dead-end wall.

The figure produces a couple of discs between its fingers and throws, revealing a metal utility belt and wrist guards; they explode in a fireball that engulfs the time traveler, and the thrower runs straight toward the blast zone for a jump. Flame and smoke clear to show that Warp has once again shielded himself with a force field.

Just then, two more figures jump down. One is dressed like the Terminator, but with a black scarf and goggles covering their face, and one of the sleeves is ripped off to reveal a shiny cybernetic arm.

The other is female, dressed in sleek orange and dark blue armor, and wearing a mask similar to Slade's, but with the bottom part removed to show a mouth with black lipstick.

The cyborg pulls out a laser gun, while the woman pulls out a shining katana.

Warp lets his shield down and looks skyward to see these new figures dropping straight toward him.

Warp said, "another time, perhaps."

He drops into the ground an instant before the leaping shadows land there. Starfire and Blackfire move cautiously into the alley as these people straighten up. No features can be seen, but the voices are unmistakable.

"It's good to see you again."

"After so long."

"We missed you guys."

Their eyes pop.

Starfire asked, "Nightwing?"

Blackfire asked, "Ravager?"

Starfire and Blackfire both asked, "Winter Soldier?"

"We haven't used those names in a long time."

All three emerge from the shadows.

Dick is now dressed like Batman, but with a dark blue cowl and shorter cape.

Rose is dressed like her father, but with a more sleek design.

Bryan's looks mostly the same, but his cybernetics are more advanced.

Dick said, "call me…. The Batman of Jump City."

Rose said, "Lady Deathstroke."

Bryan said, "and Full Metal."

….

Machinery makes itself heard, and we see a group of turning gears in a machine room. These parts reveal blackness beyond; in a large room. A bank of computers and control panels is on one side, with a chair in front, and four storage containers are across from them. A walkway bisects the area.

Two contain Dick's old outfits as Robin and Nightwing.

The other two contain the old outfits Rose and Bryan wore.

Starfire and Blackfire stand before them and sigh quietly before getting blankets wrapped around their shoulders by Bryan and Dick.

Dick said, "we heard you've been looking for help."

Bryan said, "you came to the right place."

Blackfire asked, "when did you change your hero identities?"

Dick said, "Batman was getting older; and could only focus on Gotham while starting a family with Diana. He offered me the role of another Batman for Jump City. I gave Robin permission to be the new Nightwing as I became the Batman of Jump City.

Rose said, "my dad retired from his villainous acts when he got too old, so I decided to use the name of Deathstroke for good."

Bryan said, "and I just thought Full Metal sounded cool. Now, what can we do to help you guys?"

Starfire said, "there is nothing you can do. There is nothing anyone can do. The past cannot be repaired, the future cannot be altered, no matter how wrong it seems."

Blackfire said, "like we were destined to come here."

Dick says, "so, it's impossible", he walks to the computers, "good. If memory serves, we've done the impossible before."

Bryan said, "numerous times."

Rose said, "so much that it ain't funny anymore."

She cannot find any words for a moment, but her eyes tell enough about the hope that has sprung up in her mind.

Dick said, "I held onto this…. Just in case."

Dick pressed a button, and a panel slides open, and up pops his old communicator.

He also pulls out his old fighting staff. Everyone moves closer to make sure their eyes are not deceiving them. He picks it up and presses a button; instantly, its T starts to flash red. The sisters are delighted to find that the black stones on their neck pieces and wrist guards are coming to life in the same manner: an emergency signal built into them.

Bryan's eye begins blinking red, as does a light on the palm of his hand.

The buckle on Rose's belt, and on her shoulder armor begins blinking as well.

….

Meanwhile, at BB's cage. As a prairie dog, he is up on his hind legs and bouncing his ball on his snout; his old belt hangs on a peg in the corner. Its buckle starts to flash, drawing his attention and making him forget the bouncing. He turns back to normal, and his jaw drops slightly open in surprise, then closes as he hangs his head sadly.

….

In the white room, Raven has not turned her face from the wall, though she has put down the shield she used to block Starfire. Red pulses issue from the area of her throat; where the brooch on her cloak is going off. She puts a hand up to cover it, revealing that she now wears white wrist guards rather than black.

….

Jack is about to put his staff on the shelf, when he sees the broach on his cloak blinking red.

Jack turns to see Raven walk out of her room.

Jack said, "call Sarah to watch Cassia. We've got some work to do…."

….

Back at the tower, Vic sits in the main room and ponders the wreck his life has become. Suddenly, his eye implant flickers red, responding to the call. He gets to his feet and starts out the door, but the cables in his back pull taut and stop him. He gasps softly and looks back over his shoulder to the power source that anchors him to this place.

….

We see the former museum, whose sign out front now identifies it as Metro Art Technologies. Inside, two armed guards stand frozen in ice among the computer equipment. The very same guards Warp froze twenty years ago. Apparently no-one helped unfreeze them?

Warp said, "tick-tock."

He's in what used to be: the gallery, full of clocks; he is at the far end of it.

Warp said, "tick-tock", he is welding the regulator back onto his chest, "just a few more seconds, and I shall finally-"

The sentence is cut off when a batarang flies into view and strikes the tool from his hand. It returns to Batman's hand. He, Blackfire, Bryan, Rose and Starfire are at the balcony railing, the sisters have star bolts ready to go in both hands.

Nightwing, "the future will have to wait. You just ran out of time."

With a frustrated growl, Warp brings up his shoulder lasers and fires off a few rounds that send the heroes diving away. Dick scales a handful of explosive batarangs at him, Starfire and Blackfire unload two blasts, Rose swings several shurukans and Bryan fires his laser gun, and Warp uses a force field to stop their onslaught. The five come down to ground level as he drops the barrier and the smoke clears. Now he gives them both barrels; they rush in closer, and Starfire fires off a shot that he deflects just as he did twenty years earlier. This time, though, she gets out of the way of the ricochet.

Rose swings her sword in close, managing to scratch his face before he blasts her away! Bryan and Warp start firing at one another, dodging each other's blasts before Warp manages a lucky hit that sends Bryan into Rose.

Dick, meanwhile, is charging ahead through Warp's laser blasts. He is in mid-leap, bearing down on the time-jumping thief, and the end of his staff shatters one of the two lasers. The former Titan lands behind him, and Warp turns around only to get a starbolt in the back that bowls him over. He fires his remaining laser at Blackfire, who leaps away, and then turns his attention back to Dick. The latter is jumping in again, staff at the ready, and he brings it down in a mighty overhead swing that just misses Warp. One laser blast after another is batted away without breaking the shaft this time; next, the black-clad fighter starts swinging for the fences, forcing Warp to back up as he blocks each strike.

Dick fights like a bojutsu master on speed, his staff flashing everywhere almost at once. One final roundhouse finds its mark and sends Warp to the ground; Dick and the others step up to him. The villain, however, just grins and adjusts the aim of his working laser. A shot goes straight up to the roof and blows a hole through it, dumping in a pile of snow and rubble that buries Starfire.

Dick yelled, "Star!"

Blackfire yelled, "sister!"

Dick and the others are blasted away.

Warp has used his wrist weapon to do this job. He retracts it and runs across the place to pick up the welding torch that was knocked out of his hand. Before he can do any more repair work, though, a mighty blast from Vic's cannon connects squarely with his chest and launches him over the length of the place to slam down behind a cabinet. Starfire, having been dug out of the rubble, and Dick look confusedly back toward the source, and see the bionic man himself, on the scene and free of the wiring that had held him in place. His circuitry glows blue with life as he lowers the cannon.

Vic said, "boo-yah."

Starfire exclaimed as she flew over to him, "Victor! You are repaired!"

Blackfire exclaimed, "it's a miracle!"

Rose said, "it's great to see you man!"

Dick said, "glad you could make it."

Vic said, "wouldn't have missed it. Now who said y'all could start without me?"

Bryan said, "I didn't!"

Warp gets back up

Warp said, "so sorry."

He is holding up a timer device like the one he used to drain Vic's power cell back in the day.

Warp said, "perhaps I should finish you first!"

BB, as a lion, charges in and rakes his claws along the gold armor to send sparks up from it. Warp raises his arm and brings the blaster up from his wrist, but before he can use it, Raven's powers exert themselves over the hand, then the whole body, and he is flung back to the far wall.

As he tries to her up, a blast of ice hits him, making his armor get covered in frost.

The heroes look that way, completely at a loss, and see Raven materialize from the floor as a giant shadowy bird. It rises high into the air, and the black bird outline swirls to become the telekinetic former Titan. Under the cloak, her outfit is still black.

Raven said, "nobody hurts my friends."

Jack jumps down from a broken window and says, "they're more than that", he twirled his staff, "they're our family."

They back up to join the others. BB, back in human form, looks up at Nightwing's full head of hair and rubs his own bald scalp enviously.

BB said, "dude, that is so unfair."

Bryan said, "it's fine dude, I've got a bald spot too."

Warp activates the regulator, now back on his chest, to open a wormhole and turn it black.

Warp said, "it seems my time has come."

Dick hurls something at him; he counters with one of his own. Warp's disc moves into view, approaching, but is sliced neatly in half by Dick's wingding, the last one he had. The device slams into his regulator and cracks it; electricity crackles all over his body as he begins to grow younger before their eyes.

Warp yelled, "uh!? No! Noooo! NOOOOOOO!"

As he ages in reverse, his body shrinks and his outfit starts to flap emptily. In addition, the pitch of his voice goes higher and higher. Finally, the sparks stop spitting and the armored suit lies deflated on the floor; no head is visible in the helmet. With the other Titans watching, totally mystified, BB reaches down and pulls the breastplate away. Underneath, it is Warp, now a screaming baby.

BB said, "okay. I am not changing any diapers"

Bryan said, "neither am I!"

Jack said, "ugh, I'll do it. I've already had to do it for Cassia."

Suddenly, the wormhole is starting to close.

Vic said, "we gotta get you two home. Come on!"

He pulls the regulator free and fits it to the muzzle of his cannon. A sustained blast hits the wormhole, which is nearly closed, and forces it back to its original size.

Vic said, "I'm redirecting the wormhole. Blackfire, Starfire, go!"

They step uneasily toward it, but stop to look back pleadingly at their former friends.

Starfire said, "please, must this really be our future? Is there nothing we can do to change it?"

Blackfire said, "there has to be something!"

Dick moves up to look them in the eyes.

Nightwing, "I'm sorry, girls. There isn't time."

He takes Starfire's hand and places the Clock in it; the artifact that started this whole mess two decades ago, and Starfire lowers her head for a moment as Blackfire takes her other hand in comfort. Raising it as Dick puts a hand on her shoulder, Starfire gives him a tender smile with her eyes full of tears. He takes a few steps back to join the rest of the old crew, the last thing the sisters see as they move into the black gateway. It closes behind them and winks out.

….

We return to the moments when the sisters tackled Warp through the portal.

Warp is about to escape through the wormhole with the Clock.

Warp said, "ta-ta, Titans. I have enjoyed our time together, but I've got a very bright future ahead of me."

The sisters jump at him in anger!

Warp said in shock, "what?"

They plow into him; all three go through the wormhole. Dick jumps after them but misses as it closes up. He lands on the ground.

Dick exclaimed, "Starfire! Blackfire!"

BB started to say, "um, where did they-?"

A flash fills the gallery, followed by a second wormhole that opens behind him and Vic. The girls are dumped out to land in a huddled kneeling position, cradling the Clock and each other, and the others lean in.

BB exclaimed, "dude!"

Vic exclaimed, "whoa!"

Dick said, "Star! What happened?"

Jack said, "yeah, where did you two go?"

The wormhole closes.

Starfire said, "history said it disappeared", she straightens up, showing the Clock intact, "but history was wrong!"

Blackfire said, "Warp didn't know his own past, present and future."

They can only stare thunderstruck at this instant reversal of fortune and recorded events.

….

We return to the tower, later in the day, that is.

Starfire said, "then the Batman of Jump City handed us the Clock, and we entered the vortex."

Blackfire said, "it was quite the ride."

They are addressing the other Titans. BB's cheeks are streaked with tears. Long silence as they turn over the whole out-there account of future events in their minds.

Raven said, "whoa."

Jack said, "I'm still getting over some of the stuff we just learned."

BB exclaimed, "bald?! You're telling me I'm going to be bald?! Ngggh!"

Bryan said, "that is one heck of a story."

Vic said, "guess you were right about all that Rekmas stuff."

Rose said, "jeez."

Dick said, "I don't want us to drift apart. Does it all have to happen? Isn't there anything we can…?"

Starfire said, "our friendship has already changed Warp's past. I believe it can also change our future."

Blackfire said, "nothing is set in stone."

One by one, the loose bells from the string that broke under Vic's grasp float up in Raven's influence.

Raven said, "so…. Is it too late to do this festival-of-friendship thing?"

Starfire exclaimed, "oh, it's never too late!"

Blackfire exclaimed, "let the festivities begin!"

Raven levitates strings down around BB, Jack, Rose, Bryan and Vic's necks; she is already wearing one of her own.

Vic yelled, "HAPPY BLORTHOG!"

BB said, "I thought it was, 'blort-hog.'"

Bryan said, "I think it's blorcklog?"

Rose said, "we're gonna be at this all day…."

Raven said, "okay, I feel like a wind chime."

Starfire puts a string around Dick's neck; tilt up from it to his face.

Dick said, "so…. Another Batman, huh?"

Jack looks to see Raven staring at him.

And she was smiling.

Jack asked, "what's got you so happy?"

Raven said, "oh, just learning that we're gonna be parents one day."

Jack found himself blushing before getting a huge grin on his face.

The Titans then began celebrating the Tamaranian holiday….

….

Twenty years later….

We see the future changed for the better as the Titans are celebrating in the tower, looking older.

All of them are in civilian clothes.

Dick is standing with Starfire. Dick looks a lot like Bruce, but in more relaxed clothes, while Starfire had more curves and wild red hair.

Blackfire was the same, and was standing with a man in black hair and a red shirt.

Vic looks more advanced, and is standing with Sarah; who had more curves, and Fixit, who seemed to have joined the team since then.

Jack looked like how he did in the future, but no beard as he stood with Raven in her white cloak, her hood down to show her longer hair.

Bryan stood with Rose. Rose now had a cybernetic eye put in that matched Bryan's.

Jinx was there as well with a red-haired man.

The girl with blonde hair was there as well, looking older as she watched BB in bear form, with several kids on them. One is Cassia, but the others are a little girl with orange skin and crazy black hair, a boy with blonde hair and pointy ears and sharp teeth, a boy with orange skin and black hair, a girl with snow white hair, and a boy who looked like a younger Vic.

You can guess who the parents are for each of the other kids.

Blackfire was right, the future wasn't set in stone….

….

Reviews:

Bailey Radcliff: thanks. I'm glad you liked the chapters. And I hope you have some happy holidays.

Canadude2029: yep, I'm very proud of that chapter. Glad you enjoyed it.

SuperSentai199: thank you. And yeah, Rose was one of my favorite characters in the comics, so I was happy to add her in.

….